eBay to cut ValueClick out

eBay, Inc. now has its own affiliate network of Web sites to drive traffic to its eBay and Half.com Web sites. This means that eBay’s reliance on ValueClick Inc.'s network for this traffic has been diminished greatly.

eBay issued a statement on Monday that it and its Half.com sites will no longer run their affiliate programs through ValueClick's Commission Junction platform. eBay said that instead it will rely on its own eBay Partner Network, which has just been created.

eBay indicated that these changes will occur on April 1st, with affiliates required to move to the eBay Partner Network by May 1st. Previously, eBay paid Web site publishers and affiliates to drive Web traffic to eBay. eBay affiliates using other affiliate platforms, such as Affilinet and Tradedoubler, will not be affected.

It wasn’t a total wash for Commission Junction: eBay’s Reseller Marketplace, Media Marketplace, eBay Stores, Tradera AB, ProStores, Inc, and StubHub will still count on Commission Junction to drive Web site traffic for them.